Road to Recovery
by apples-a-day
Summary: One-shot. Rewrite of 4x08: Where Regina is there, and helps Emma. Cover credit: Miss Lane.
1. Fireballs and Ice

**I know, I know, I have a bunch of other fics to be updating.**

**But here's the thing, there was this post on tumblr [that now for the life of me I can't find] that was talking about how different yesterday's ep would've been if Regina had been there instead of Hook.**

**And then this was born. All 4,000 words of it.**

**First blurb follows the [unfairly] deleted scene that was apparently shown today on Good Morning America or something. Anyway it's a scene where Snow practically breaks into Regina's home [with baby Neal in tow] and Snow first prods at Regina wondering if she caused the blackout, and then asks for help with getting the power back on, and they talk about Henry and temporary can mean a long time for kids. You guys should go find and watch it 'cause it's a wonderful and great scene.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**4x02: White Out - Fireballs and Ice**

* * *

Regina had no idea why she hadn't just sent Snow packing the minute she saw her.

Or thrown a dozen fireballs at her.

_'Because I'm trying to change'_ is the answer that comes to her mind right away. Despite everything that had happened lately, she still wanted to prove to herself that she was different, no longer the Evil Queen. Plus she'd never harm the young child - who'd have been in the line of fire had she attacked - no matter how much she hated his mother.

Henry would never forgive her if she became evil once again. It was why she didn't want him to visit her right now. She could feel that one wrong move would make her slip, and that the careful balance that she was teetering on was not something she wanted him to see, especially if, heaven forbid - should he accidentally set her off. She wasn't going to take that chance.

The other person that would be disappointed in her would be the woman she had been trying to ignore for the past few days. Emma Swan. The Saviour. The woman who told her earlier that'd she'd fight to get Regina a happy ending. But it was laughable. Villains never got their happy endings. Besides, she knew who she wanted to be her happy ending. It was just unfortunate that _she_ would never realize it, instead looking everywhere else to search for Regina's supposed happy ending, never finding it within herself.

Robin had been a convenient alternative, someone else who loved her despite her many misgivings, and was supposed to be her soulmate. But she knew the fairy dust wasn't accurate. Regina wasn't so much as angry for having Marian brought back as she was that she was alone again. Despite the ache and longing she felt for one clueless Saviour, being loved by Robin had dulled the pain, made her feel like maybe, just maybe, she could achieve some happiness even if she didn't have her true happy ending.

But it was futile. She was just as alone as before.

* * *

Emma was slack-jawed at seeing the enormous wall made of ice in front of her. Her mind quickly barbed that this takes walls to a whole new level in comparison to the metaphorical ones David had just been talking about in regards to her and Regina.

Regina, the woman she had futilely tried to talk to, only to get ignored or turned down. But now wasn't the time to dwell on it. Now she had to figure out what the hell was up with all of these snow and ice things showing up.

"Seems like this ice wall goes for miles, at least from what I saw." David had glanced a bit to the side of the road, seeing the enormous barrier continuing towards the horizon on both directions.

Emma nodded slowly, still looking at the massive blockade in front of her. "Impressive, but why?"

"No idea, but if it's so lengthy, I'm willing to bet that it's blocking the whole town. Meaning that once more we can't leave Storybrooke."

She leveled David with a look, "You guys couldn't leave Storybrooke even if the ice wall wasn't there, so I'm not sure that's so much of a problem as say, why someone would want to box us in, in the first place."

"True," David admitted. Before he could say any more, the radio in the car crackled to life, presumably one of the Merry Men - who had been drafted to help out the Sheriff Department - trying to see if there were any updates.

Emma just kept looking at the wall. There was something that kept catching her attention... "Hey dad."

David glanced up from where he had been perched against the car, talking to the handset of the car's radio, seeing Emma turning to look at him. "Yeah?"

"I think I see something by the wall, I'm gonna go check it out."

He nodded. "Be careful."

Giving him a smile, she inched closer to the structure. It was definitely impressive and intricate. Did one person do this entire thing?

* * *

David finished talking on his radio and glanced back to the structure. For the past few minutes he'd been locating Emma's beige jacket and blonde hair to make sure Emma was alright. As long as it was visible, he was calm. But now he couldn't see it, and his heart sunk.

He dashed towards the ice wall, drawing his gun. "Emma?"

Hearing nothing, he inched closer, his boots making contact with the snow on the ground. He tried once more, a little louder. "Emma?"

"Dad, it's okay-" There she was, standing next to this strange woman dressed in all blue.

"Stay back!" The woman made her way forward, putting her arms out in front of her, hands glowing an icy blue, blocking Emma from his view.

"No wait Elsa, he's not going to hurt you!" Emma tried to grab one of the lady's arms, but she wrenched her arm away. A few seconds later, a furious storm began to pick up, blowing snow and ice everywhere. "Dad put down your gun!"

He wasn't going to do that, not while his daughter was beside that threatening woman, who he assumed was Elsa, as he heard Emma say. Now he just yelled out, hoping his voice would be heard, "Let her go!"

His request was ignored as the storm was picking up speed, and ice began to grow, making the ground shake. David lost his balance and fell. He heard Emma scream, and he looked up. Icicles were beginning to fall, and there was little he could do but scramble back up, cocking his gun to where he saw Elsa still standing.

He was all for shooting her, then he saw her expression. Fear. Complete and total fear. He faltered, and lost his chance. With a final shake, more ice fell, coating him in snow, and taking the other blonde away from his sight.

"Emma!" David dropped his gun, and grabbed his walkie-talkie, trying to communicate with her through it. Only static returned, and he cursed. He ran up the small steps to where he had last seen Emma and Elsa, finding nothing but ice and snow. "Emma!"

This had clearly been made with magic. Ice magic. And he knew there was one person who specialized with fire.

* * *

Regina had been ready to open a bottle of wine to drown herself in, when she heard her phone buzz. Damn these townspeople who couldn't get a hint.

She elected to ignore it, and took out a wine glass. After a few seconds, the buzzing stopped, and she let out a sigh of relief, going to uncork the bottle.

Once more the device buzzed, and she got angry. Ready to tear the caller a new one, she saw the caller ID and cursed. Couldn't those insipid Charmings ever shut up? She swiped to take the call, and growled out, "It seems I've wasted my time sending my message earlier as you are all hell-bent on contacting me after I specifically asked to **not** to be contacted by anyone, and if you think-"

"Emma's in danger."

Regina paused in her rant, hearing David's breathless voice interrupt her. She swallowed thickly, and bit back, "And why should that concern me? Get her love-struck pirate or something to dash in and save the day."

David sighed and responded, "No, there was a woman...she had ice magic, she took Emma and blocked the entrance with ice. I need you to help me melt the entrance. Please Regina."

Her heart had already sunk at hearing that Emma was in danger, but now, she was petrified. "Where?"

"The Northern Entrance to town, I can come pick-" before David could say anything, purple smoke appeared in front of him, and Regina stood there, phone still in her ear.

They both hung up, and Regina briskly demanded, "What happened?"

"We'd been investigating the power outage, and found this pole down. Emma saw this figure by the wall and went to investigate. Apparently it's this woman named Elsa, and she has ice powers. She got scared when I showed up with my gun, and caused this avalanche to trap both her and Emma inside that thing. I've been trying to contact her, but no luck so far."

Regina hummed. Of course Charming would've bungled it up. She walked up to the structure, and readied a fireball. "Where is the entrance?"

He trailed behind a little bit and then pointed to an area with more ice. "There."

Regina felt the strength of her fireball increase as she thought about Emma, injured and in the clutches of that other woman. She pelted it onto the entrance, making part of it melt, but then freeze once more. "There's too much ice."

"But if you keep at it..."

She rounded onto the clearly idiotic man. "It's not a question of time. It's rather that there is too much ice and it's too cold. Any damage my fire tries to do gets snuffed up because of it. And I can't make the fireball too big or I run the risk of incinerating Emma."

David elected to ignore the way that Regina had clearly thought out how to make sure Emma wasn't damaged in her rescue attempts. He grabbed his walkie-talkie and tried to once more get through to her.

"Emma! Emma if you can hear me, say _something_!" They waited with baited breath for something, any sound, to come through the radio.

"Dad, I'm in here with Elsa, she's looking for her sister. Her name is Anna." The two listened to Emma's explanation, and Regina heard the curious way Emma's voice wavered every few moments. She felt the air around her definitely chilly for this time of the year, and then she realized what could be causing the wavering. She was freezing. She was encased in an ice structure, and just from being beside it, Regina was already feeling the chill, so she couldn't imagine being inside it.

Suddenly, a voice interrupted Emma's explanation. "Before I freeze this town, and everyone in it."

A bold threat by this unknown woman, but Regina supposed she wasn't exactly a beginner, having accomplished so much in the supposed day or so she had been in Storybrooke, assuming the Snow Monster had also been hers.

"Come on, we should get to Gold's shop."

* * *

Emma was beyond freezing, and so tired.

"Come on Emma, keep talking to me. Tell me something about your life."

She let out a shaky laugh at Elsa's poor attempts to keep her awake, and therefore alive, but she licked her lips and tried to kickstart her frozen brain into thinking what to talk about. "Uhm let's see, I h-have a son, his name is Henry. I share him with a w-woman, h-her name is Regina."

"Share him?"

"Yeah. I had Henry when I w-was really-y young, so I gave him up for adoption. Regina a-adopted him, and now I'm back in his life s-so we share."

"Are you two...together?" Elsa wasn't sure how to phrase the question, but if they were sharing the child...

Emma scoffed. "I wish. But n-no, she's got this whole 's-soul mate' thing worked out, that I a-accidentally screwed up. N-Now she won't even talk t-to me."

If there was one thing she hadn't been expecting when she walked in to Storybrooke, was to offer love advice, and yet, here she was. Then again, she had asked for Emma to keep talking. "Perhaps she has feelings for you too?"

Another scoff, followed by, "Are you k-kidding me? She's a freaking g-gorgeous queen, I d-don't even hold a candle to her. Plus R-Robin Hood is her soul mate, even if I did bring his wife b-back from the dead."

Elsa figured that she didn't even want to tackle that last sentence. So she decided to go through a safer route. "Tell me more about your son."

* * *

"Listen to me. Either you give us what we want, or else." Regina threatened. She was not having this infuriating woman become the cause of Emma's death. David had her up against the freezer, and she was ready to hurl a fireball. Or choke her, whichever one struck her fancy at the moment, she wasn't picky.

"Check the back room, it's got to be near her."

Regina gave a low growl, not exactly enjoying playing buddy cop partner to David, but right now this was their best chance of getting Emma out of Elsa's ice cave.

She found the Shepherd's hook easily enough, and went back to the entrance to grab the walkie-talkie. "Elsa, we are coming back with a solution."

"Please hurry." Regina was surprised. Wasn't the woman threatening them with Emma's life, and now she wants them to hurry? And she almost sounded...scared. "Emma's passed out from the cold, she's turning blue."

Regina walked over to where David and Bo Beep were still glaring at each other, and said, "Charming, you can play catch up later, Emma is freezing to death."

* * *

A few minutes later, wherein David had broken at least two traffic rules, they were once again in front of the ice cave entrance.

David was trying to convince Elsa to believe in herself, and was trying to push forward despite the terror that was filling him as he thought about his daughter dying on the other side of the wall.

"Now do it!" David capped his rousing speech of heroism, and waited.

"Give it to me." Regina grabbed the walkie-talkie from David, and spoke into it. "Elsa, listen to me. I know you feel you don't have the power to do it, but, like David said, you **can**. I'll help you. I can create fireballs and help to melt, you don't have to do this alone."

"Okay."

So they set themselves up, Regina on one side, fireballs ready on both hands, David a little bit further back, while Elsa was on the other side, aiming and hoping her ice magic could undo this.

A couple of minutes later and they had managed to do it. Seeing Emma caused a wave of relief to wash over Regina, she had been worried that they'd lost her.

* * *

"Emma!" As Elsa helped her out, her hazy mind was trying to figure out the sight in front of her. Regina was beside her father, and the smile the brunette had for her was one she would love to see for the rest of her life, and one that she had been hoping she would be able to see for the past day.

Two warm hands, one from her dad and the other from Regina, pulled her out of the hole, and she felt the autumn air a relief from the icy cave air. Once she was fully out, she turned and engulfed Regina in a hug. If anyone asked, she'd say her brain was too frozen and she wasn't thinking. When she felt Regina's arms around her, trying to cocoon her, she smiled. Maybe things weren't so lost.

"Come on, we need to get her home and warmed up. The car isn't too far-"

"I've got a much faster route." Regina gave a small smirk before the familiar purple smoke engulfed Emma and her.

She hoped that Snow wouldn't be too shocked at seeing her materialize inside her house, but was pleasantly surprised to see it empty.

"Come on, let's get you warmed up." Regina led Emma to a the couch nearby, and tried to find some blankets, but she wasn't having much luck.

"Mom?" Henry had been home, and was halfway down the steps, hearing a ruckus downstairs, before he stopped, seeing one mother shivering on the couch, looking sickly grey and pale, and the other rummaging drawers.

"Henry, I need you to find me as many blankets as you can."

"Sure." Henry scrambled back up and returned with 3 blankets, all of them huge, thick and fluffy.

Regina sat beside Emma and began wrapping her in blankets, relaxing a little bit every shade closer to healthy that Emma looked. Once she was done, Regina put an arm around the blonde, and began to rub her arms to cause friction. In a surprising twist, Emma sunk into the comforting arms, laying her head down one the crook of Regina's neck.

Henry had a million questions running around his head, but knew now was not the time.

"Hey H-Henry." He almost hadn't heard her, even Regina looked surprised. But he still made his way closer to Emma, and was promptly engulfed into a hug. "I'm s-sorry I wasn't much help earlier-"

"It's okay, I'm just glad you're fine. I just didn't want to lose another mother." Here he glanced at Regina, trying to silently ask if she was really back or would be going back to hide behind her walls once more.

It seemed she got the message loud and clear because Regina grabbed his hand, and gave him a shaky smile. "You haven't lost either of us, Henry."

He returned the smile, and said, "I'm going to make some hot cocoa...with cinnamon."

By the time the cocoa was ready, David had come back with Elsa in tow, and Mary Margaret had returned, having started the back-up generators. Emma had fallen asleep in Regina's arms, and no one questioned it. No one knew how to phrase the question, or even if they should ask.

But both Henry and Elsa could hazard a guess as to what exactly was going on.

Regina didn't want to budge from that spot, not even if Snow's questioning gaze made her want to evaporate out of that apartment. She didn't want to go back to the life where Emma was with the pirate and she was alone. She wanted to be the one to comfort Emma, to heat her up after such a taxing situation.

So after everyone had gone to bed - Regina had insisted she was fine right there - she dared to give Emma a quick kiss on her forehead before heading to sleep herself.

* * *

**Epilogue:**

Emma slowly opened her eyes and saw darkness. Was the power still out? No, she could see the streetlights outside through the window, as well as the soft lights coming from appliances around the apartment. She still felt a bit cold, but the blankets helped. She also saw and felt something that shocked her.

Regina had her arms around her, lightly snoring as she slept. Had something happened while she was unconscious? Something wonderful she might add. No, she was sure Regina wouldn't have tried anything with her mother around...or maybe she would, just to spite her.

Looking at the brunette now, she felt this enormous urge to kiss her on the lips. She had always felt something for Regina, since the first few days that Emma had arrived in Storybrooke. But she knew Regina was way out of her league, she was a Queen and Emma could barely call herself a Saviour, let alone acknowledge that technically, she was a princess.

Hook had been a convenient and certainly willing alternative, she supposed, though she could do without the constant innuendos and demands that everything should be about him, as if the world revolved around Killian Hook, the self-centred prat.

Suddenly, Regina opened her eyes, groggily trying to figure out what woke her up. Seeing the blonde in front of her, Regina's memory came to her, and she smiled.

"Hey." Emma said sheepishly, seeing Regina awake.

"Hey."

"Sorry if I woke you," Emma apologized. "Or if you were sleeping uncomfortably because of me."

Regina shook her head. "It's alright. And you actually make sleeping on the couch very comfortable, surprisingly enough."

Emma smiled, and then decided that she should try to take this opportunity to say something, try to enforce what she had told Regina before. "Regina, -"

Regina could guess as to what Emma wanted to talk about, but she didn't want to tire the blonde with this conversation. "Rest Emma, we can talk tomorrow. I promise I'm not going to disappear."

"I know, but I need to tell you about earlier, I wasn't just saying it, I do really mean it. I will help you find your happy ending."

"It's quite alright, dear. I don't need it." She knew Emma, and knew the woman would go to the ends of the Earth to help her. It's what made her the Saviour: her persistence.

"Yes you do. I know you might think it's because you were a villain, but that's just it. You _were_ one. You're a quote unquote good guy now, so you get all the perks, and I don't care if Henry and I need to hold auditions, someone in this town has to be your happy ending."

She really tried to fight off the grin, but she lost. How did Emma Swan manage to be so adorable after having been near Death's door freezing her butt off just a few hours prior? "I mean that I already found my happy ending."

"Regina, fighting over Robin will just lead to more drama and heartbreak, and you're just beginning to get Marian to see you in a new light..."

"I didn't say it was Robin," Regina interjected.

"Oh. Then who?"

"Really dear? You have no idea?"

Emma shook her head. She knew that she herself wanted to be a contender, but there was no chance of it, right?

By way of answer, Regina just gave her a quick peck on the lips, leaving a gaping Saviour staring at her.

Then it was as if Emma had recovered and quickly went to hungrily kiss Regina, getting the kiss returned with gusto. Before long though, baby Neal woke up crying, and the two women on the couch quickly parted, pretending to be sleeping as Mary Margaret woke up and went to take care of her newborn.

But on the couch, Emma settled deep into Regina's chest, arms snaking out from within the cocoon of blankets to wrap around the brunette's waist, while one of Regina's wandering hands softly alternated between playing with Emma's hair and stroking her back.

* * *

**And that was this one-shot! I posted it separately and not with my one-shot collection because it might happen that I'll just go "this ep had too much Hook, let's give Regina more time." and prefer to just add it here.**

**No guarantees any other eps will be included since a miracle might happen and the show might make sense again. Though if I'm getting a miracle to happen on the show I'll just ask for Swan Queen to become canon.**

**Haa who am I kidding, I'll just be here with fanfics and scoffing at all the "unintentionality"**

**The Epilogue part was just because I was feeling like there needed to be just that extra dose of fluff, but if it feels too rushed, just pretend the fic ended before there.**

**I hope the jumping around wasn't too bad, but I didn't want to rehash the entire ep, just the parts that were important/different.**

**Let me know what you thought!**

**Meanwhile I'll go right back to updating my other fics. Oh and I might make a graphic to accompany this fic later, and probably post it on tumblr and make it the cover image for this.**


	2. Acceptance

**Sooo, that ep huh?**

**Yeah I hated it too. Too much manfest, not enough ladies, especially not enough SQ. So behold! how that ep should've totally gone.**

**I think that a testament to how much I hated the ep was the naming of this doc: shit up with which we will not put.**

**And then we can just tell the two idiots that we replace their reality with our fics and punt-kick them out of the writers' chairs.**

**Also thank you to everyone for the wonderful reviews last chapter!**

**Now 4,500+ words of what I hope is a better rendition of the ep, with 100% less pirate and outlaw, except perhaps in mentions because alas, they do exist, much to the chagrin of everyone that owns a brain.**

**I'm kinda on the fence about where this would fit in the continuity, as in, did my rewrite of 4x02 happen?**

**I'm inclined to say that, for the logistics of what has happened up to now in the show such as the SQ ep and all that jazz to make sense, Fireballs and Ice did _NOT_ happen.**

**Now, if you want to imagine that it did, and create your own ideas/plot as to what could've happened in between, you're more than welcome to do so.**

****I hope everyone enjoys! It'll start at the end of last ep, you'll understand how in a second.****

* * *

**4x08: Smash the Mirror - Acceptance**

* * *

Regina let out a sigh of relief, watching as Robin walked away. She had seen in his eyes what he wanted the minute he walked in. He wanted to forget about his wife and indulge in the distraction that was Regina, but she couldn't in good conscience entertain that idea while his wife was practically dying and she was trying to find a cure for it.

He might be in a 'fuck it all to hell' mood, but the more Regina saw of how dishonourable he actually was, and little care he has for his attention to Roland, the more glad she was that she put a stop to it before they got too far. She had made a call to Little John, and was reassured that little Roland was being well taken care of, which was a relief. Getting rid of the drunkard trying to get into her pants though - or skirt in this case - proved to be a little bit more of a challenge.

So she sent him packing, quite bluntly too, insisting until he got the point. She was done with the idea that Robin was her soulmate. Fairy dust from decades ago would **not** dictate her life. She refused to let it do so. The whole point of Operation Mongoose was to prove that her fate _couldn't_ be predetermined, that her happy ending was out there somewhere, and not non-existent because some book saw her only as a villain. To let fairy dust decide her love would be creating an entire hypocrisy of what the whole operation with her son was all about.

But now she had to fix Marian's condition. She didn't care that it was the middle of the night, the other woman was running out of time, and she wanted to prove, not only to herself, but to Marian too, that she had changed.

It also didn't help to have Mary Margaret's constant calling. She honestly had very little patience to deal with the schoolmarm right now, so she pressed ignore once more. she asked herself why she didn't just turn her phone off. A nagging thought at the back of her head told her that she should keep her phone on, and answer the call. After all, she wouldn't be calling so insistingly if it wasn't for something important.

Though Mary Margaret did not call again, thankfully, so Regina felt at ease, and continued working throughout the night and right into the morning.

* * *

"Nothing," Mary Margaret said in a sigh, as she, David, Elsa, Ruby all entered the apartment in the early hours of the morning.

"At all?" Belle asked, going to greet the group, little Neal sleeping in her arms.

"A pretty impressive feat considering she's managing to evade a wolf's sense of smell," Ruby said, collapsing on the couch, Belle going to join her.

"From what she has told me about her life from before," Elsa started, sitting at the table, "is that she was pretty good at evading and running, so perhaps, if she doesn't want to be found, she will go to great lengths to hide."

Belle nodded, adding, "I've read books that talk about how magic can help to disguise any scents..."

"And if her magic is running haywire," David added, crossing his arms in front of him, "then she can hide for a long time."

"Hopefully not for too long," Elsa says. "The longer she isolates herself, the less control over her powers she'll have and the more she'll spiral."

"I screwed up so badly. I shouldn't have admonished her as I did. She's my daughter and I just was not the mother she needed me to be." Mary Margaret stopped as David engulfed her in a hug.

"Hey, we're trying to make up for it. We'll find her and fix things," David said, soothingly.

"Yeah, I'll go back out and see if I can't catch a whiff of her," Ruby said, standing up.

"No need," Henry said, fully dressed, looking like he had just come in. Though from where was anybody's guess, as they hadn't heard the door open.

"Henry! Where were you?" Mary Margaret asked, seeing the young boy with his coat on.

"I snuck out to search for Emma...I used the fire escape."

Belle glared at him, and teasingly said, "You're really not helping my reputation as a babysitter."

He flashed a small smile, before wincing, and bringing his hand up to the back of his neck.

"Henry? What happened?" David asked, coming closer to him.

"I found her...but her magic was out of control, I tried to tell her that it was okay, but she accidentally pushed me back with her magic, and she tried to get me to leave. She's in the forest..."

"I'll go try and find her. I'll update you guys if I find her." Ruby left the apartment in a run, worried for her friend.

"Are you hurt Henry?" Mary Margaret asked, inspecting the wound. "Come on, I'll patch you up. And can _someone_ please call Regina? She hasn't been answering my calls all night. We're going to need her help in this."

"You can use my phone," Henry said, holding out his cellphone for someone to take. "I'm guessing she'd be more willing to answer if it came from me."

David took up that task, but not before muttering, "I doubt she'll like hearing me on the phone. Or anyone that isn't Henry for that matter."

* * *

The minute Regina looked at her phone and saw Henry's name, she quickly went to pick up. "Henry? Is everything okay?"

Regina heard a sigh, and then all at once, "It's David actually, and it's a long story, can you come over to Mary Margaret's apartment? Oh and, can you bring a locator potion?"

Before the brunette could even try to come up with a response, the line died. She huffed. Trust the Charmings to want her to be at their beck and call. But if they were calling from Henry's phone, then it had to be important. She rifled through her box of potions, finding the turquoise one, and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

She reappeared outside the door of the apartment, took out the key she had been given, and entered.

"Can someone please explain to me what is going on? Is Henry okay?'

David was sitting near the doorway, so he responded. "He's fine, Regina, it's just...Emma's lost control of her magic."

Regina's eyes widened. "She what?"

"We think it was something to to with the Snow Queen...she ran away in fright and we were searching for her all night. We wanted to see if you could help, but you ignored all of Mary Margaret's calls..."

Well, now Regina felt like an idiot for ignoring the calls, but she quickly brushed it off. "We can worry about that later. What does all of that have to do with Henry?"

"He snuck out to help search for her, and he found her, but she...her magic sort of helped to deliver the message that she wanted to be left alone."

"What did she do?"

"She...she hurt Henry."

She frowned. "Emma hurt Henry?"

"Actually," Elsa said, coming down the stairs. "It was Emma's trying to prevent her magic from hurting Henry that led to her lashing out at him."

Regina turned around and nodded. "Makes sense, repressed emotions and fear can lead to her magic doing strange things...is Henry upstairs?"

"Yes, I gave him some ice for the bruising. Mary Margaret helped with the wound-"

"Wound?"

Behind her, David braced himself for the Evil Queen to come out at full force.

"It was a minor wound," Elsa reassured the brunette.

Regina hummed, and turned back to David. "And Emma?"

"Still missing, hence why we wanted the locator potion."

"I see, well, I'll go tend to Henry, and leave you two to find her, as your family is wont to do, seeing as my usefulness has probably run its course."

David stood there transfixed as Regina put the potion down on the table, and went up the steps, bypassing Elsa.

"Was that Regina?" Mary Margaret asked, coming out of the bathroom with Neal in tow.

"Yeah, she went to tend to Henry."

"Oh, okay, well I'll go put Neal in his stroller and get us ready to go."

"If you want, I can stay with the child. You two probably want to talk to Emma alone, and I'm not sure those rolling miniature baby carriages are made for the forest's terrain. Plus, since Belle already left, I could take over."

"Well-" Before Mary Margaret could say anything, her phone began to buzz. Handing Neal over to David, she saw the caller ID and gave a sigh of relief, "It's Emma!"

* * *

Emma got back in her car after finishing the call to Mary Margaret, keeping the tears at bay. She had agreed to Gold's offer of getting rid of her magic permanently, it was the only thing that would help her, to take away these accursed powers that were hurting everyone she ever cared for. And to think that a while back, she had wanted nothing more than to have Regina teach her magic.

Regina, the friend she had recently gained, and would probably lose again because of her stupid magic hurting Henry. It was the only reason why she didn't go to Regina right away. She couldn't face the woman knowing that she had hurt their son. Or what would happen if she managed to hurt Regina. She'd never forgive herself. She cared for the woman too much, more than a friend - though she'd never truly admit it, because she couldn't be Regina's happy ending.

"Fantastic Em, destroy any semblance of a relationship with everyone you ever cared for," she muttered out loud to herself, gripping the wheel tighter.

As her radio began to wonk out, she cursed. "Seriously? What's next?"

* * *

Elsa grabbed the scarf and the potion, and made her way upstairs to where Henry and Regina were.

She found them in a touching scene, resting their foreheads against each other, but then remembered her mission, and cleared her throat.

Regina looked up and frowned, seeing the potion bottle in the blonde's hand. "Is everything alright? You do know you're supposed to pour the potion _on_ the object for it to work?"

"I do, but I wanted to speak to you before I go to find her-"

"I thought the Charmings were going with you to find her?"

"That's the thing, they are under the impression Emma should go to get her powers taken away from her, and I know that you, having magic yourself, knows how important it is to a person, we can't let her do this."

"Take away her magic? What are you talking about?" Regina was confused, and it showed.

"She called Mary Margaret a while ago and said that she had found a way to get rid of her magic forever, and right now her parents're discussing that it might be the best way to make her be 'normal'"

Henry piped up, "But that's not possible, right? I mean, she can't actually get rid of her magic for good? It's a part of her."

"The Charmings are clearly dumber than I thought." Regina stood up, and straightened her skirt. "I'll go with you."

"Actually, perhaps you better speak to them, make them understand."

"I'm not sure if you haven't really gotten the gist of things quite yet, but we're not exactly the best of friends."

"Well you guys are practically family, with both you and Emma being his mothers," Elsa said, gesturing to Henry. "They'll listen to you, and once I find her, I can contact you and we can regroup..."

"Do you have a phone?" Regina asked.

"No."

"Henry, give me your phone," the young boy held out his phone and Regina gave it to Elsa. "Do you know how it works?"

"You press a button and then speak into it," Elsa said, having seen a few people use them often enough.

"Precisely. Once you find Emma, just press 'Mom", and then 'call', okay?"

Elsa nodded. "I'll hopefully contact you soon."

* * *

Emma parked her bug outside the mansion she and Gold had agreed to meet at. After Ingrid's little trick in the middle of the road, trying to warn her against going to meet the powerful man, she would be lying if she said she wasn't having some misgivings.

But that was probably her plan, get Emma to keep her magic for whatever twisted plan she had going. Plus Gold was now one of the good guys, right? He married Belle, got his happy ending, unlike someone else she knew deserved a happy ending.

She hoped that, once this fiasco with her powers was done, she'll be able to get right into finding Regina's happy ending, even if it was pairing him with the married outlaw. She felt her face involuntarily frown at the thought. Regina deserved so much better than him, but she shook the thoughts away. Now was not the time to get jealous and pine over a woman that she had no chance with.

She opened the door and called out, "Gold?"

* * *

"Come on, we can follow the rest on foot," Mary Margaret said, continuing to walk down the road, while David went to shut off the engine. Regina decided to follow Mary Margaret, checking her phone once more.

"Has Elsa contacted you?"

"No. We can't be much further from our destination, I wonder if she has forgotten how to operate the phone, or if she's being led on a wild goose chase."

They walked for a while in silence, David a few paces behind them before Mary Margaret asked. "You care about her, don't you?"

"Who?" Regina asked, turning to the woman beside her.

"Emma. In our conversation at the apartment, when you explained how important Emma's powers were to her, you sounded...different."

"I just...I understand what she must be feeling, that's all," Regina said, ready to brush the matter off.

"Well I'm not denying that that must be part of the reason, you two are alike in some ways, but this felt more than that Regina, like you two..."

The older woman cleared her throat. "That's neither here nor there."

"It is Regina, and I don't understand why you wouldn't want to talk about it."

"Because there is no point in talking about it. She's with the pirate and I'm never meant to get a happy ending," Regina said, speeding up to walk ahead, leaving Mary Margaret walking alone.

Mary Margaret's eyes widened before she smirked, calling out to the brunette in front of her, "You know, it's funny you should mention that, because I was just wondering if you two had patched things up and became friends..."

Regina stopped and whipped around to glare at the younger woman. "Oh please-"

"I'm serious Regina, I never said anything about love, and Emma hasn't mentioned a word, though she has been adamant about getting you to accept her apology, and find your happy ending," she said, coming up to stand in front of Regina.

"Why does it matter," Regina said, turning to walk once more, before adding, "there's no hope for me."

"Of course there is! Regina, this world isn't like our home world, and things didn't work out with Robin because you're meant to be with Emma."

"You do realize we're talking about your daughter?"

"Yes I do, and if you two make each other happy, then who am I to get in the way?" Mary Margaret said, lightly nudging Regina.

"I swear you must make a commission on your true love and hope for a happy ending schpiel."

"I do not, Regina, I just firmly believe in it!"

"You definitely get a quarter from every time, admit it."

Before either woman could continue, Regina's phone rang. The caller ID said Henry, and she got excited, she found Emma! "Elsa? Is everything alright? Are you with Emma?"

"I'm not sure. The scarf led me to this mansion near the coast, but something weird is happening inside it...it feels like the house is _pulsing_ with magic."

"I'll be there in a second." Regina hung up and turned to Mary Margaret, David coming up to stand beside his wife.

"What is it?"

"Elsa found the house Emma's at, it's nearby but there's something wrong, I need to go..I-"

"Go," Mary Margaret said, with a nod. "We'll meet you there, you should probably try to talk to Emma first."

Regina nodded, and made a gesture, engulfing her in the purple smoke, taking her to the house Elsa mentioned.

* * *

Elsa was huddling around the side entrance, and then saw Regina appear, walking in purposeful strides towards her.

"Shall we?"

Elsa shook her head. "You should do it."

"Why me?"

The blonde smiled at her, "Because you've known her longer than I have, and besides, she would appreciate having her friend with her."

Regina couldn't exactly argue with that logic, and tried to open the door. When it wouldn't budge, she quickly cast a spell that unlocked it, and walked inside. The magic was coming off in waves. But it wasn't all Emma, it felt like much older magic...maybe Rumple? It didn't feel like his magic. She made her way towards the source, hoping she wasn't too late.

After passing through a few rooms, she found Emma in the middle of a ballroom, staring at the closed double doors in front of her. There was a sliver of the door that was open, and Regina didn't like the look of it. The lights all around them were pulsing and shaking, and electricity crackled all around.

"Emma."

The blonde turned around at hearing the soft voice call her name, and her eyes widened. "Regina, I'm so sorry about Henry, I promise I wouldn't do anything to hurt him, that's why I'm getting rid of my powers, because I don't want to hurt anyone."

"Emma, relax, I'm not here to reprimand you," Regina said, putting her hands up in a placating gesture. "I'm just here to help."

Emma saw Regina try to take a step forward, and she threw her hands forward, palms up, hoping the other woman would take the hint. "Please don't come any closer. I don't want to hurt you."

"Emma, you won't hurt me. Remember what you told me a few days ago? That we understood each other? Well, let me try to understand what's going on. You had a good handle on your powers before, what happened?"

The blonde took a deep breath and said, "The Snow Queen happened. She did something to my powers..."

"Did she make you drink or eat something?"

"No," she said, shaking her head.

"Then this is can't have been her. Did she say anything before your powers went haywire?"

"That...that my family didn't love me, that they _feared_ me, that they would _always_ fear me."

Regina tilted her head a bit. "And before she said that, did you believe it?"

"I...kinda. Mary Margaret had reacted badly earlier when I made Neal's bottle glow, and I had just come from Elsa having talked about how her parents looked at her differently because of her powers..."

"Don't you see Emma? She was just trying to bring out your fears. Magic is emotion, you know that, and fear makes magic do all sorts of things that we don't want. And then, by repressing your emotions, it made your powers even less stable."

"I can't seem to control it no matter what I try to do," Emma said, looking at her hands dejectedly, glowing a bright mix of red and yellow. "I've just been ruining everything lately, and I've been off my game, so maybe I'm just better without my powers."

"Emma, wait," Regina said, taking the smallest step forward. "Apart from the fact that you _can't_ really take your magic away, no matter who has promised you otherwise, magic is a part of you. It's part of what makes you special."

"Maybe I don't want to be special..." Emma looked down as she finished saying that, wringing her hands together, hiding the tears that were falling

Regina took another step closer to the blonde, then another. She was under the chandelier by now. Just a few steps closer and Emma would be within reach. "But it's what makes you, _you_. I know that the pressure of the Saviour can't be easy, but you've helped this town countless times because of your persistence and dedication to helping people. You might not want to be special Emma, but you certainly are. And even without powers, you are still special. Magic is only a part of you, but you shouldn't give it up.

"Think about it this way. When the hero comes across an obstacle, do they give up?"

Emma couldn't stop the smile that broke out on her face, and shook her head. "No, they try again until they get past it."

The brunette gave a triumphant smile. "Exactly. You just have to accept who you are Emma, and I promise you that afterwards, we can get right back into your magic lessons so you can be sure you're in control of your powers, what do you say?"

Emma saw that Regina was now nearly standing in front of her, holding out her hand for Emma to take.

"But what if I hurt you?"

"Like I said before Emma, you won't hurt me."

With a smile, Emma took the offered hand within her own.

Suddenly, a pulse of light radiated from them, and they stood still, watching as the lights went back to normal, and whatever was behind the door stopped pulsing.

Both women were shocked. They had seen this type of magic pulse before.

"Was that...?" Emma let the question hang, not knowing how to ask.

"I think so," Regina said, nodding slowly. It certainly looked like the light from true love.

"So wait, does that mean..." Emma was too shocked to understand. Did that mean that Regina liked her back?

Regina decided that right now, the only thing she could think of doing, was giving Emma a sound kiss on the lips. So she did.

* * *

A few minutes later, Emma and Regina came out of the mansion hand in hand.

"Emma!" Mary Margaret rushed to hug her daughter, David coming up behind her. "What happened? Did you do it?"

"No, Regina, she helped me."

"We're so sorry honey, we never meant to make you doubt yourself, or your powers."

David nodded, and added, "We love you no matter what."

As Emma stepped back from the hug, she grinned. "I know, thank you."

Henry suddenly came bounding up the steps and nearly tackled Emma in a hug. "You're okay!"

"Henry! Yes I'm fine."

"And weren't you supposed to be staying home with Ruby and Neal?" Regina asked, crossing her arms in front of her.

Henry gave a sheepish smile. "I just had to come! I'm a kid, we're curious like that."

Emma ruffled Henry's hair affectionately. She saw Elsa coming up towards them slowly, and she flashed a grin at the other blonde.

"So, are you back in control of your powers?" David asked.

"Absolutely," Emma said, smiling widely.

She rolled up her sleeves, and stepped to the edge of the porch. Giving one look to Regina, and a dazzling smile, Emma looked back out and let her magic run free.

In an incredible display of fireworks, the little family was watching in awe at Emma's powers. While the show kept on going, Emma reached out and grasped Regina's hand in her own.

Regina smiled, and thought wryly about how she was going to have to give Mary Margaret a quarter.

* * *

**And that was that!**

**Hopefully it was better than lat night's disaster of an ep. I tried to not repeat the scenes that I felt were done good, like Emma at Gold's shop, Regina and Henry talking, and Regina talking with the Charmings, but still mention enough so that people weren't all "wait what happened?" in case they didn't watch the ep at all.**

**Like before, this is meant to be a one-shot, just to provide an alternative [and hopefully more bearable] version of the ep. I won't be doing this for every single ep, though I keep getting the feeling that the show is just going down under more and more, sooo, it might happen for the next ep in two weeks, who knows.**

**I'd love to know your thoughts, and I'm probably going to do a picspam graphic of this chapter/'ep', like I did with the first one, but that'll probably come later, like later tonight or maybe tomorrow.**

**Thanks for reading!**


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